What's up everybody! Happy Thursday!
Jr brought it too my attention this morning that it's been over 2 MONTHS since my last SCM post...and in his words that's "Absolutely unacceptable" and I'd like to agree with him, because I have much to tell you about!
Foremost is my first gig! I'm going to be opening this month's "Counterpoint" @ Tavern At The End Of The World, Saturday May 28th @ 10pm. I'm mixing up a special blend of Drum and Bass just for that evening, that'll span the DnB spectrum. From jazzy jungle tracks to some jump-up remixes, with a splish splash of Drumstep (<-- DnB and Dubstep's bastard love child) thrown in for good measure. It should be an awesome time (as Counterpoint always is.)
The other exceptionally exciting news is that is going to help me drop this phenomenal set at Counterpoint, is my phenomenal new equipment I got...
First up is my new Pioneer DJM-350 mixer. This thing is amazing! Within 10 minutes of playing with it, I looked over at my old Stanton 3-channel as if it said "Fisher-Price" on the side and said, "Wow, so this is what playing with GOOD equipment feels like..." (An expensive realization when I looked at my poor decrepit tables, realizing they're the next in line for an upgrade.) One super cool thing about the 350, is that USB port in the upper right hand corner...you can plug in a flash drive, or even an iPod, and record straight to it! Soooo sick!
The next sick piece of equipment that has taken my spinning to a whole new level is the Traktor Kontrol X1 by Native Instruments. It's essentially "just" a Midi controller for all intents and purposes when used with Scratch Live like I'm using...but it's SO much more than just a midi controller! With this thing hooked into my laptop with Serato running, I can scroll though track listings, load the left and right decks, control up to six different sample, control another 6 effects, control up to 5 cue points per track, trigger active and auto looping, and even bend the laws of space and time around me! It's like a TARDIS that controls you're music...except I'm not going to hit it with a hammer any time soon. (A little Dr. Who reference for ya...which I'm totally hooked on btw.) But seriously...this thing is amazing!
The two other upgrades go hand in hand...and are both helping me out immensely. 13" Macbook I inherited from Mom's upgrade and Serato Scratch Live 2.2. It's such a world of difference to have the processing power to run 5 cue points and loops with out it have to freeze the screen for a few seconds while it "thinks." That and having the scroll track moving smoothly without any stutter, is priceless!
All of this "new" has made things infinitely easier, and waaaay more fun. I've gone from spinning maybe a total of 2-3 hours a week, to 1-3 hours a day! I rarely miss a beat, and I have so much more versatility that about 97% of everything I'm laying down on the fly sounds sick! I've even gone as far as to try my hand at scratching, which I'm actually not too bad at, (but I'll spare you till I'm a bit better and/or I get new tables.)
But as you know, this blog isn't call Space Cadet Equipment. It's called Space Cadet Music! So here's some new music!
Me and cousin Dave made this mash-up a few weeks back entitled "Hot Spit." It's Snoop Dogg's "Like It's Hot" over Pest's "Chicken Spit." It's a little homage to Dick Winter's "Like It's Hot" mash-up, which was the track that inspired us to get into making mash-ups in the first place. Hope you enjoy!
Another bit of new (though it's pre new equipment) is a mix I spun maybe a month or so ago. Real fun set...but done as a way of pulling me out of a funk, so far from what I'm capable of. Still worth a listen though. Sure to pull you from any funk in an emergency...
Well I'll be back in a day or two for some more house cleaning/fun stuff to share with you all (no more time lines though...I think they were becoming a drag.) I hope you all have an awesome weekend. And if you happen to get raptured this Saturday, then it's been nice knowing you, and I'm psyched you're in a better place. If not, then I'll talk to you next week and I'll see you butt at Counterpoint. May 28th...Mark it down! Peace.
